The St. Louis Cardinals play about 10 miles down Interstate 70 from where an unarmed black teenager named Mike Brown was shot and killed in broad daylight last Saturday by a white member of the Ferguson Police Department. Brown was wearing a red Cardinals hat on that fateful day and the protests and riots that have followed have been littered with people of all races wearing Cardinals gear. You may have heard that St. Louis likes its baseball team.
Cardinals manager Mike Matheny was asked before Sunday’s series finale against the visiting Padres whether he’s been following the story, which has dominated the national news cycle for the past week.
Matheny’s response, via Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch ...“The whole country is,” Matheny said. “It’s a sad situation. It’s a tough situation for our city and hopefully all the voices that are trying to get this resolved get this resolved quickly.”
“I think baseball, not just in St. Louis but in our country, has always served very well in that regard, whether it’s 9-11, I think baseball was a great focal point. ... This is a great city with a lot of great people.”
I grew up in St. Louis and am writing this post from my apartment downtown, but I can’t come up with any special insight to offer. This city has deep racial issues that date back hundreds of years. It’s all very layered and sad and embarrassing, and unfortunately a resolution in this case probably won’t come quickly at all.
If you want to follow what’s happening on the ground in Ferguson you can’t do better than @AntonioFrench.
